Welcome to New Authors
This page has moved to: http://community.globalvoicesonline.org/guide/editorial-guides/welcome-to-new-authors/
Thank you for joining Global Voices! This document explains our mission and how our community works.
Other important documents:
Contents
Getting Started
We don't have an office, so our more than 800 mostly volunteer contributors operate virtually. Most of the activity revolves around the main website in English. We also have more than 30 translation websites that have their own editorial teams and translators as well as two special projects, Advocacy and Rising Voices.
Your role as an author is to find the most compelling and important stories coming from marginalized and misrepresented communities. You seek to inform a global audience of the interesting conversations that are taking place in the blogosphere and citizen media of your country, language or subject. You should follow blogs, social media and other citizen media resources and identify key stories and perspectives that deserve to be explained and amplified.
Learn more about Global Voices:
Who Is Who at Global Voices?
A lot of people are involved in making Global Voices tick from day to day, including you!. Make sure you have at least one editor who is your primary contact person and that you are subscribed to the appropriate GV Google Groups.
The easiest way to see who is who is to visit:
Writing Your First Post
Your editor will send you a username and password to log in to Global Voices' WordPress platform. The first thing you should do is edit your profile, add a photo, and change your password to something you can remember.
Always discuss your post ideas with your editor before writing. Make sure you read what has last been written about your country or topic.
Before you start writing, make sure you read the Style Guide thoroughly to understand what is expected in terms of story topics, style, structure and sourcing as well as the Posting Guide to learn the technical aspects of creating a post. If you have any questions, please ask your editor.
Once you have finished, save the draft, tick your editor in the Users box below the post and leave an editorial comment letting them know that it is finished.
GV Story Checklist
Before submitting your Global Voices story for review, check these items:
- Headline: Will readers feel compelled to share this headline on Facebook and does it have the keywords that search engines need to bring it right to the top?
- Lead: Do you have a captivating 15-to-25-word summary of the story somewhere in the first three paragraphs of the post?
- Photo: Is there a nice big image at the top that is at least 800x600 px? Do we have *permission to use it? Did you include that info in the caption and the link? And did you upload it to the feature box?
- Context: Did you highlight our purpose for telling the story? Why is this story breaking, trending or why is it important to us? Did you give the reader enough background to understand this story?
- Commentary: Did you add 1-6 tweets or citizen media comments? Include some background on the person making the comment. Is a real name associated with the account or is the account under a pseudonym for a person who wants to stay anonymous – we should specify. Is the commenter an expert on the region? Or is he or she just a really well informed comedian from the region? Do they have 10K followers on Twitter; let’s add that in. Or are they an eyewitness? We should specify why their voice is being amplified.
- Big picture closing: What do you want to reader to feel when they finish the post? Should they have a sense of how big the problem is? Or should they feel hopeful? Make sure your last few words speak to them.
- Categories: Did you select the most relevant categories?
- Excerpt: Did you include an excerpt that is different from the lead?
- Thumbnail: Did you remember to select a thumbnail image?
- Have you saved a copy of HTML post in a text editor prior to submitting in case of tech errors?
- Have you notified your regional or language editor that your post is ready for review?
Thank you for writing for Global Voices!
Mailing Lists
You will be added to two Google Groups] email lists. One is the regional email group with other bloggers from your own region. The second is called the "GV Community" email group. Everyone at Global Voices is included in the conversations on the GV Community group, where we discuss editorial and organizational issues.
Being Part of the Community
As a Global Voices community member you help decide what happens to the website, what our priorities should be, and what the future of our project is. You should always feel free to suggest ideas or raise concerns. We also try to connect to each other through Social Networking sites. Global Voices Board of Directors also has three elected members, two chosen from volunteers and one from staff.
It is hard work being a Global Voices author, but it can be very rewarding. Writing for GV often leads to many new friends and even professional opportunities. Bloggers you link to will gain an international audience, and you may be contacted by foreign media if there is breaking news in your country.
Additionally, your posts could be translated into dozens of languages by Global Voices volunteer translators Lingua websites. Everything on Global Voices is published under a Creative Commons license, so be prepared to see your best posts appear on other news websites and blogs too.
Global Voices Meetups
Every year and a half or so, Global Voices holds a summit in a different location to bring as many Global Voices contributors together as possible. In the past, we've been able to invite some our most active volunteers to travel to these summits at no cost. We will always strive to bring as many people as possible.
At other times, Global Voices authors and editors who live in the same cities or regions have organized their own smaller meetings. Feel free to reach out to fellow GVers who are in your area. You could also be invited to blogger events or conferences where you meet other Global Voices contributors.
